What's the difference between point and principal?

Point


Definition:

  • (v. t. & i.) To appoint.
  • (n.) That which pricks or pierces; the sharp end of anything, esp. the sharp end of a piercing instrument, as a needle or a pin.
  • (n.) An instrument which pricks or pierces, as a sort of needle used by engravers, etchers, lace workers, and others; also, a pointed cutting tool, as a stone cutter's point; -- called also pointer.
  • (n.) Anything which tapers to a sharp, well-defined termination. Specifically: A small promontory or cape; a tract of land extending into the water beyond the common shore line.
  • (n.) The mark made by the end of a sharp, piercing instrument, as a needle; a prick.
  • (n.) An indefinitely small space; a mere spot indicated or supposed. Specifically: (Geom.) That which has neither parts nor magnitude; that which has position, but has neither length, breadth, nor thickness, -- sometimes conceived of as the limit of a line; that by the motion of which a line is conceived to be produced.
  • (n.) An indivisible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence, the verge.
  • (n.) A mark of punctuation; a character used to mark the divisions of a composition, or the pauses to be observed in reading, or to point off groups of figures, etc.; a stop, as a comma, a semicolon, and esp. a period; hence, figuratively, an end, or conclusion.
  • (n.) Whatever serves to mark progress, rank, or relative position, or to indicate a transition from one state or position to another, degree; step; stage; hence, position or condition attained; as, a point of elevation, or of depression; the stock fell off five points; he won by tenpoints.
  • (n.) That which arrests attention, or indicates qualities or character; a salient feature; a characteristic; a peculiarity; hence, a particular; an item; a detail; as, the good or bad points of a man, a horse, a book, a story, etc.
  • (n.) Hence, the most prominent or important feature, as of an argument, discourse, etc.; the essential matter; esp., the proposition to be established; as, the point of an anecdote.
  • (n.) A small matter; a trifle; a least consideration; a punctilio.
  • (n.) A dot or mark used to designate certain tones or time
  • (n.) A dot or mark distinguishing or characterizing certain tones or styles; as, points of perfection, of augmentation, etc.; hence, a note; a tune.
  • (n.) A dot placed at the right hand of a note, to raise its value, or prolong its time, by one half, as to make a whole note equal to three half notes, a half note equal to three quarter notes.
  • (n.) A fixed conventional place for reference, or zero of reckoning, in the heavens, usually the intersection of two or more great circles of the sphere, and named specifically in each case according to the position intended; as, the equinoctial points; the solstitial points; the nodal points; vertical points, etc. See Equinoctial Nodal.
  • (n.) One of the several different parts of the escutcheon. See Escutcheon.
  • (n.) One of the points of the compass (see Points of the compass, below); also, the difference between two points of the compass; as, to fall off a point.
  • (n.) A short piece of cordage used in reefing sails. See Reef point, under Reef.
  • (n.) A a string or lace used to tie together certain parts of the dress.
  • (n.) Lace wrought the needle; as, point de Venise; Brussels point. See Point lace, below.
  • (n.) A switch.
  • (n.) An item of private information; a hint; a tip; a pointer.
  • (n.) A fielder who is stationed on the off side, about twelve or fifteen yards from, and a little in advance of, the batsman.
  • (n.) The attitude assumed by a pointer dog when he finds game; as, the dog came to a point. See Pointer.
  • (n.) A standard unit of measure for the size of type bodies, being one twelfth of the thickness of pica type. See Point system of type, under Type.
  • (n.) A tyne or snag of an antler.
  • (n.) One of the spaces on a backgammon board.
  • (n.) A movement executed with the saber or foil; as, tierce point.
  • (n.) To give a point to; to sharpen; to cut, forge, grind, or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart, or a pencil. Used also figuratively; as, to point a moral.
  • (n.) To direct toward an abject; to aim; as, to point a gun at a wolf, or a cannon at a fort.
  • (n.) Hence, to direct the attention or notice of.
  • (n.) To supply with punctuation marks; to punctuate; as, to point a composition.
  • (n.) To mark (as Hebrew) with vowel points.
  • (n.) To give particular prominence to; to designate in a special manner; to indicate, as if by pointing; as, the error was pointed out.
  • (n.) To indicate or discover by a fixed look, as game.
  • (n.) To fill up and finish the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
  • (n.) To cut, as a surface, with a pointed tool.
  • (v. i.) To direct the point of something, as of a finger, for the purpose of designating an object, and attracting attention to it; -- with at.
  • (v. i.) To indicate the presence of game by fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
  • (v. i.) To approximate to the surface; to head; -- said of an abscess.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Single-case experimental designs are presented and discussed from several points of view: Historical antecedents, assessment of the dependent variable, internal and external validity and pre-experimental vs experimental single-case designs.
  • (2) Well tolerated from the clinical and laboratory points of view, it proved remarkably effective.
  • (3) We are pursuing legal action because there are still so many unanswered questions about the viability of Shenhua’s proposed koala plan and it seems at this point the plan does not guarantee the survival of the estimated 262 koalas currently living where Shenhua wants to put its mine,” said Ranclaud.
  • (4) She knows you can’t force the opposition to submit to your point of view.
  • (5) The isoelectric points (pI) of E1 and E2 for all VEE strains studied were approx.
  • (6) Ofcom will conduct research, such as mystery shopping, to assess the transparency of contractual information given to customers by providers at the point of sale".
  • (7) Fifty-two pairs of canine femora were tested to failure in four-point bending.
  • (8) A one point dilution enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedure suitable for determining immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels to Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) in community seroepidemiological surveys is described.
  • (9) Subsequent isoelectric focusing in sucrose revealed an isoelectric point of 9.0-9.2.
  • (10) Gross deformity, point tenderness and decrease in supination and pronation movements of the forearm were the best predictors of bony injury.
  • (11) Whole-virus vaccines prepared by Merck Sharp and Dohme (West Point, Pa.) and Merrell-National Laboratories (Cincinnati, Ohio) and subunit vaccines prepared by Parke, Davis and Company (Detroit, Mich.) and Wyeth Laboratories (Philadelphia, Pa.) were given intramuscularly in concentrations of 800, 400, or 200 chick cell-agglutinating units per dose.
  • (12) A Monte Carlo simulation was performed to characterize the spatial and energy distribution of bremsstrahlung radiation from beta point sources important to radioimmunotherapy (RIT).
  • (13) From the social economic point of view nosocomial infections represent a very important cost factor, which could be reduced to great deal by activities for prevention of nosocomial infection.
  • (14) He said Germany was Russia’s most important economic partner, and pointed out that 35% of German gas originated in Russia.
  • (15) Many examples are given to demonstrate the applications of these programs, and special emphasis has been laid on the problem of treating a point in tissue with different doses per fraction on alternate treatment days.
  • (16) In 11 of the 22 cells PAI-1 mRNA and in 6 of the 22 cells PAI-2 mRNA was found, pointing to a possible role of plasminogen activator inhibitors in the tumor-related plasminogen activator activity.
  • (17) Sequence specific binding of protein extracts from 13 different yeast species to three oligonucleotide probes and two points mutants derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA binding proteins were tested using mobility shift assays.
  • (18) Recent studies point to the involvement of regulatory peptides in diseases of the gut and lung.
  • (19) The positive predictive accuracy of a biophysical profile score of 0, with mortality and morbidity used as end points, was 100%.
  • (20) The starting point is the idea that the current system, because it works against biodiversity but fails to increase productivity, is broken.

Principal


Definition:

  • (a.) Highest in rank, authority, character, importance, or degree; most considerable or important; chief; main; as, the principal officers of a Government; the principal men of a state; the principal productions of a country; the principal arguments in a case.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to a prince; princely.
  • (n.) A leader, chief, or head; one who takes the lead; one who acts independently, or who has controlling authority or influence; as, the principal of a faction, a school, a firm, etc.; -- distinguished from a subordinate, abettor, auxiliary, or assistant.
  • (n.) The chief actor in a crime, or an abettor who is present at it, -- as distinguished from an accessory.
  • (n.) A chief obligor, promisor, or debtor, -- as distinguished from a surety.
  • (n.) One who employs another to act for him, -- as distinguished from an agent.
  • (n.) A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous.
  • (n.) A capital sum of money, placed out at interest, due as a debt or used as a fund; -- so called in distinction from interest or profit.
  • (n.) The construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, -- generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. Also, loosely, the most important member of a piece of framing.
  • (n.) In English organs the chief open metallic stop, an octave above the open diapason. On the manual it is four feet long, on the pedal eight feet. In Germany this term corresponds to the English open diapason.
  • (n.) A heirloom; a mortuary.
  • (n.) The first two long feathers of a hawk's wing.
  • (n.) One of turrets or pinnacles of waxwork and tapers with which the posts and center of a funeral hearse were formerly crowned.
  • (n.) A principal or essential point or rule; a principle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In addition to their involvement in thrombosis, activated platelets release growth factors, most notably a platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) which may be the principal mediator of smooth muscle cell migration from the media into the intima and of smooth muscle cell proliferation in the intima as well as of vasoconstriction.
  • (2) While stereology is the principal technique, particularly in its application to the parenchyma, other compartments such as the airways and vasculature demand modifications or different methods altogether.
  • (3) Chromatography and immunoassays are the two principal techniques used in research and clinical laboratories for the measurement of drug concentrations in biological fluids.
  • (4) This paper reports, principally, the caries results of the first three surveys of 5, 12 and 5-year-olds undertaken at the end of 1987, 1988 and 1989, respectively.
  • (5) Rigidly fixing the pubic symphysis stiffened the model and resulted in principal stress patterns that did not reflect trabecular density or orientations as well as those of the deformable pubic symphysis model.
  • (6) The binding parameters indicate that the principal activating effect of UMP is not simply to increase the affinity of the enzyme for glucose.
  • (7) Mononuclear phagocytic cells from patients with either principal form of leprosy functioned similarly to normal monocytes in phagocytosis while their fungicidal activity for C. pseudotropicalis was statistically significantly altered and was more evident in the lepromatous than in the tuberculoid type.
  • (8) In the terminal segment of the hamster epididymidis there was some evidence of micro-merocrine protein secretion a the level of the principal cells and clear evidence of granular secretion in the light cells, presumable of glycoproteins.
  • (9) In the analysis of background fluorescence, the principal components were, as for the two-step technique, autofluorescence and propidium spectral overlap.
  • (10) However, at Period B, neutrophil numbers in the BAL fluid were increased in the principal but not in the control animals.
  • (11) Principal conclusions are: 1) rapid change to predominantly heterosexual HIV transmission can occur in North America, with serious societal impact; 2) gender-specific clinical features can lead to earlier diagnosis of HIV infection in women; 3) HIV infection in women does not pursue an inherently more rapid course than that observed in men.
  • (12) The concentrations of the principal extratesticular androgens and estradiol do not seem to have a quantitative influence on these androphilic proteins either.
  • (13) A principal function of GPIb is its attachment to von Willebrand Factor (vWF) on injured blood vessels which leads to the adhesion of platelets to these vessels.
  • (14) The principal variables influencing a particular configuration and their effects are indicated.
  • (15) The principal form of HMTs produced by these human peripheral blood monocytes has been subjected to biochemical, functional, and serological characterization.
  • (16) Micronutrient antioxidants such as alpha-tocopherol, the principal lipid-soluble antioxidant, assume potential significance because levels can be manipulated by dietary measures without resulting in side effects.
  • (17) Cytochrome oxidase histochemistry revealed patchy patterns of the enzyme activity in transverse sections through the caudal part of the ventral subnucleus of the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus, interpolar spinal trigeminal nucleus, and layer IV of the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus in the cat.
  • (18) 3. an up-to-date review of the principal methods and systems used to measure the sedimentation rate--Automation of the Westergren initial methodology.
  • (19) • Queen Margaret Union, one of the University of Glasgow's two student unions, says 200 students there are marching on the principal's office at the moment to present an anti-cuts petition.
  • (20) This observation provides corroboration for the identification of the principal CCK-I neuron in the rat olfactory bulb as the centrally projecting middle tufted cell.